THEATRES DES VAMPIRES, DUST, DOLLS OF PAIN, THE COURTESANS
Twas a chill winter?s night and the alley by London?s Electrowerkz was full of sinister figures cloaked in black, as pitch as the very night itself. We were ushered into the middle bar of the venue and the doors to the main room opened much later, by that time we had drunk probably more than our fill, tonight was going to be a late one.
The drink had obviously befuddled my head as I was standing waiting to pop backstage and meet Theatres Des Vampires and didn?t even realise that it was Eileen Daly I was chatting to as she was just about to go on stage with her new band The Courtesans. I certainly felt stupid when I did finally realise, I mean after watching Razorblade Smile countless times I should have twigged but in my defence did not know she was in a new group and have no idea what happened to old act Jezebel.
Having missed a good chunk of Courtesans set I jotted down that they were playing a good brand of sleazy rock with some dirty Cramps sounding riffs. I also appear to have metaphorically described them as being akin to a dirty bitch rubbing her snatch on a throbbing bike saddle, greased up with her foot on the peddle. Woah I guess it was going to be one of those nights but seriously Eileen?s dress left very little to the imagination and I would fail to describe the rest of the band if my life depended on it. There was another loungecorey number where the singer expertly emphasised her range with a sultry finesse. I?m annoyed I hadn?t paid more attention here but will certainly check Courtesans out in more detail at the next opportunity I get.
I don?t really get the chance to listen to a lot of electronic beat music but when I do I like it to slam, none of that wimpy bleepy stuff. Dolls Of Pain from Strasbourg sure as hell slammed with thudding drum samples, futuristic synths and harsh howling vocals. This was an apocalyptic soundtrack to a generation on the brink of its own extermination, mixing up the pounding beat of Skinny Puppy, Bile, Front 242 and GGFH. Although this is undoubtedly the sound of the future, (yes the robots will one day rise and machines will take over the world) it was also firmly the sound that the Revolting Cocks hinted at back in 1993 with their prophetic Big Sexy Land.
You could almost imagine cenobytes ripping the shit out of everyone in the club like on Hellraiser 3 as DoP turned the adrenaline machinery up to the max on one track possibly called Satan Diet, well it dropped in straight out of hell that?s for sure. With girls dancing in cages and the sleaze factor enforced with numbers like Bondage, Dolls Of Pain had certainly created an impression and forthcoming album Slavehunter looks essential.
Speaking of cenobytes D.U.S.T. had a ballsy intro, the main theme from Hellraiser to live up to. Although I have seen their name around plenty of times this was my first encounter with the band after some chunky cyber Goth sound riddled with feedback they settled into a sound that after the last band had me thinking of them as lacking and even limp and directionless. With a psychedelic tinge to their Goth by numbers approach, they grew on me but did little to impress apart from having a good light show and a beat that kept you on your toes.
Singer Mickey Altered did a competent job and the band looked at home, it was just the songs that struck me as generic and titles such as Amphetamine Chic had me grinding my teeth like I had just snorted a gram of dodgy speed. The ballad they played next had me running to the safe area of the bar, this simply wasn?t for me and they seemed to play forever as well.
There was some light relief courtesy of Redemption?s Satanic Sluts putting on their blasphemous stage show. Basically it involves a couple of ladies, a foetus, much blood and writhing around on the floor wearing next to nothing in a lesbian tussle. What you want me to draw you a diagram? Check out the photos instead.
So it was well past dark as Theatres Des Vampires took to the stage and having secured a good position at the front of the stage I wasn?t in the mood for being pushed back by security. Yep I really am a twat and they were only doing it for safety sakes as there was a rather large pyrotechnic device to herald the bands arrival, shit who needs eyebrows anyway?
With the band masked up and singer Scarlet wearing a skirt making Eileen?s look positively sensible they were quick to cast their spell full of Pleasure And Pain as the decadent music flowed like rich red wine around us. TdV are always a compelling visual treat mainly due to singer Scarlet?s sinuous twisting and a hint of danger lingering in the air as you never know quite what she has in store for an audience almost to keen to submit to her every desire.
There was (ahem) a little bit of horse play going on here as Scarlet had one of the Satanic Sluts on and was giving her a ride and had her prey chained and trembling. Once that was over it was back to the music and its baroque Grand Guignol excesses. Full of chunky riffs and rich corals Angel Of Lust leapt through the rafters on a wild old jig of bacchanalian delight.
The jagged crunch of Never Again bounced us around with the sultry vocals giving a maudlin twisting melody and older favourites like La Danse Macabre Du Vampire picked up the beat and had people rocking out and singing along. Something I didn?t expect was when Scarlet left the stage for a costume change and the band kept us occupied with a fantastic reworking of Goblin classic Profondo Rosso (that?s the theme music to the Argento movie translated as Deep Red to anyone who doesn?t know it). I enjoyed this one hell of a lot and Fabian Necros certainly gave even the great Claudio Simonetti a devilish run for his money with this.
Rosa Mistero had the Scarlet woman back in a red PVC dress and well, a little bit of blood, perfectly accentuating the number with a visual display. Having played a goody bloody chunk of most recent studio album Pleasure And Pain it was up to Queen Of The Damned from Suicide Vampire to wrap things up and with last trains having well and truly finished we had the perfect excuse to drink loads more and dance badly to dodgy 80s Goth hits in the club.
Pete Woods
LONDON ELECTROWERKS 03/02/07